In the processing and packaging of semiconductor devices, ultrasonic bonding (e.g., wire bonding, ribbon bonding, etc.) continues to be a widely used method of providing electrical interconnection between two locations within a package (e.g., between a bond pad of a semiconductor die and a lead of a leadframe). For example, ribbon bonding machines are used to form ribbon interconnections between respective locations to be electrically interconnected. The upper terminal end of a bonding tool is, in many instances, configured to be engaged in a transducer (e.g., an ultrasonic transducer) of a ribbon bonding system which causes the bonding tool to vibrate upon bonding. Ultrasonic bonding is a joining process that, for example, may use relative motion between the ribbon (e.g., a conductive ribbon material such as an aluminum ribbon, a copper ribbon, an aluminum-copper clad ribbon, a silver coated aluminum ribbon, a silver coated copper ribbon, a light capturing ribbon for bonding to solar substrates, etc.) and the surface to which it is bonded. It is this relative motion that enables the bond formation.
In providing interconnection in solar substrate applications (e.g., crystalline silicon solar cells, thin film solar cells, etc.), techniques such as soldering or conductive adhesive bonding have been used to electrically connect adjacent cells, to collect electricity from multiple cells, etc. When using ultrasonic ribbon bonding in such applications, it would be desirable to provide improved workholders and workholder capabilities, and improved ribbon feeding systems and ribbon feeding capabilities.